2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Ramson (lat. Allium ursinum) Is a perennial plant of the Onion family. Other names - Bear Onion, Kolba, Wild Garlic, Victory Onion. Natural area - most of the European countries, the Caucasus and Ciscaucasia. grows mainly in shady forests and river valleys. Both cultivated and wild species are used for food. In Russia, the plant is found in the Far East, Siberia and the Urals. Some species of wild garlic are listed in the Red Book, for example, European wild garlic.
Characteristics of culture
Ramson is a herb with an elongated bulb about 1 cm thick, not attached to the bottom of the rhizome and covered with shells that split into parallel fibers. The stem is trihedral, reaches 15-50 cm in height. The leaves are oblong or lanceolate, sharp, slightly shorter than the stem, 3-5 cm wide. The petioles are narrow, twice the length of the plate, outwardly similar to the leaves of hellebore and lily of the valley.
Flowers are collected in dense hemispherical or tuberous umbellate inflorescences. The perianth is white, with linear-lanceolate petals, about 9-12 mm long, there is a vein, but hardly noticeable. The fruit is a spherical three-edged capsule with reverse heart-shaped valves. Seeds are small, round. Wild garlic blooms in May-June, seeds ripen in August-September.
Growing condition
Ramson is a shade-tolerant and unpretentious plant, it does not need special growing conditions. It can grow without problems in illuminated areas, near the walls of houses and outbuildings, as well as near a fence. Fertile, slightly acidic, moist soils are preferred. Acidic, saline and waterlogged soils are not suitable. Ramson grows well both in the open field and as a pot culture. In the same place wild garlic grows up to 20 years, even weeds do not interfere with the culture.
Reproduction and planting
The wild garlic is propagated by seeds and bulbs. The second method is the most effective and simple. Bulbs are harvested in the forest in spring or autumn, and then planted in the ground. Bulbs can be stored in wet peat, sand or moss until spring. As the wild garlic grows, budding of the bulbs occurs, which form new specimens. The bulbs are planted in an ordinary way according to the scheme 30 * 12 cm or 40 * 15 cm.
Reproduction by seeds is a rather laborious and lengthy process. Seeds are sown in the spring after stratification or before winter under shelter in the form of peat or humus. Seeds are stratified for 80-100 days in wet sand at a temperature of 0C. After stratification, the seeds are dried and sown in the ground, and on top they are covered with compost or humus mixed with soil in equal amounts, watered and compacted. In the second year, the onion sets are harvested and planted in a permanent place.
Care
Caring for wild garlic consists in weeding, loosening row spacings and forming nests with 6-7 bulbs. Form nests by separating excess bulbs. In the first few years, the culture does not need feeding. Subsequently, ammonium nitrate is added under the wild garlic (at the rate of 30 g per 1 square meter). It is advisable to feed the plants in early spring by scattering the granules on the snow, with the melting of which they will gradually dissolve in the soil.
It is important to ensure that the seeds do not crumble, otherwise in a couple of years the wild garlic will not be a cultivated plant, but a malicious weed that will be difficult to get rid of. Pests of wild garlic are very rare, and this is due to the fact that the plants contain substances, the smell of which scares away intruders.
Harvesting
Harvesting of the leaves is carried out selectively. Thus, it is possible to avoid the depletion of all bulbs at once and wild garlic will delight their owners with an annual and bountiful harvest. Leaves of wild garlic are stored in small bundles wrapped in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
